July 21, 2005

Prairie Fare: Salsa: From Garden to Table

By Julie Garden-Robinson, Food and Nutrition Specialist
NDSU Extension Service

This is a good year for tomatoes and peppers, at least from my perspective. My 7-year-old daughter and I have “minigardens” growing in several large pots and a half-barrel in our backyard. She eagerly checks them every day. OK, I do, too.

Our plants are prolific and drooping with tomatoes. It looks like the peppers will be plentiful. We have the raw materials for making salsa, and maybe canning or freezing some salsa, too.

Salsa is a more popular condiment than its cousin, ketchup. It’s a colorful, flavorful and nutritious addition to menus. A two-tablespoon serving of salsa has about 10 calories and no fat.

Salsa is one of the most popular items to can at home. Creating your own salsa concoction and sealing it in a jar may be hazardous to your health. It’s safe, however, to freeze your own creations.

To make salsa safe for canning, it’s critical to follow a research-tested recipe and add an acidic ingredient, such as lemon juice or citric acid. In fact, for safety, all tomato products should be “acidified” prior to canning.

In an NDSU Extension Service project, researchers determined the pH (or acidity) value of 14 tomato varieties grown in North Dakota. A pH value of 4.6 or lower is required for safe canning without the use of a pressure canner. The tested varieties of tomatoes had pH values from 4.95 to 5.2, so their values were too high to be canned without adding an acidic ingredient.

Why is pH so important? Microorganisms such as clostridium botulinum can survive or grow in some foods at certain pH levels. This type of bacteria can produce a toxin or poison. Someone eating a tainted canned food could get botulism, a potentially fatal form of foodborne illness.

The good news is that there are safe canning recipes available for salsa, spaghetti sauce and other tomato recipes. It’s important to follow the recipes closely. Don’t add extra peppers or onions to salsa recipes because they will affect the acidity level. Don’t thicken salsa with cornstarch before canning because it will affect its safety, too. If needed, you can thicken salsa after opening.

Here’s a recipe from one of the canning publications produced by the NDSU Extension Service. For more information about safe food preservation, visit the NDSU Extension Service Web site at www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/food.htm.

Tomato/Green Chili Salsa

3 c. peeled, cored, chopped tomatoes
3 c. seeded, chopped long green chilies
3/4 c. chopped onions
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded, finely chopped
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 1/2 c. vinegar
1/2 tsp. ground cumin*
2 tsp. oregano leaves*
1 1/2 tsp. salt

Wash tomatoes. Dip in boiling water for 30 to 60 seconds or until skins split and then dip in cold water. Slip off skins and remove cores. Prepare peppers. Caution: Wear rubber gloves while handling chilies or wash hands thoroughly with soap and water before touching your face. Hot peppers, such as the jalapeno, do not need to be peeled, but the seeds often are removed. Wash and dry. If you choose to peel peppers, slit each pepper on its side to allow steam to escape. Peel peppers using one of the following methods:

Oven or broiler method: Place chilies in oven (400 F) or broiler for 6 to 8 minutes until skins blister.

Range-top method: Cover hot burner, gas or electric, with heavy wire mesh. Place chilies on burner for several minutes until skins blister.

Allow peppers to cool. Place in a pan and cover with a damp cloth. This will make peeling the peppers easier. After several minutes of cooling, peel each pepper. Discard seeds and chop peppers.

Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan and heat, stirring frequently, until mixture boils. * Spice amounts can be reduced, but no other changes should be made prior to canning. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Ladle hot mixture into pint jars, leaving a 1/2-inch headspace. Adjust lids and process in a boiling-water canner for 20 minutes.

Makes 3 pints or about 24 servings per jar. Each serving has 10 calories, no fat and 1.3 grams of carbohydrate.

###

Source: Julie Garden-Robinson, (701) 231-7187, jgardenr@ndsuext.nodak.edu
Editor: Rich Mattern, (701) 231-6136, richard.mattern@ndsu.nodak.edu

BeefTalk

Prairie Fare

Plains Folk

Hortiscope

Market Advisor:

Crop

Livestock

North Dakota State University
NDSU Agriculture Communication
NDSU Extension Service
ND Agricultural Experiment Station